Starts Rotten, Ends Up Nice

Sometimes at work I feel like I am on a sinking ship.

I've verbalized this to some of my co-workers (I guess I'm supposed to call them "team members") during desperate moments. I told one friend, another special ed teacher at my school, "I feel like I'm on the Titanic, and it is slowly sinking, and the band is playing and everyone thinks everything is normal, but we're sinking!" The other teacher laughed and said, "None of us think this is normal. Just don't jump ship."

This morning Anise came to school in full rage mode, screaming at the top of her lungs and flipping over tables. She actually picked up a table and threw it at the wall, so hard that the legs broke holes in the plaster. An aide had taken the other kids (Montana, plus Persius, who was spending the entire morning with us because of an in-school suspension) into the next room when Anise had started blowing out, but the noise was so loud even from there that the aide ended up taking them to the library.

Anise flipped out for an hour while I stood by helplessly. If I tried to talk with her, she screamed more.
They had told me when they switched me to this job that I wouldn't be alone with Anise (she's as tall as me and probably stronger( but it was always happening anyways.

Finally, finally, Anise ran out of steam, just as the aide was returning with the boys.
We were joined byRuddy, who spends part of the day with us and part with his general education class. We had our morning meeting. The kids were all calm and happy, and actually participated in morning meeting instead of stomping around with frowns on their faces. (Montana and Anise are prone to that. Ruddy is prone to that in his regular classroom, but in here he happily does anything I ask him to. I think he's still in the honeymoon stage in our room.) 

They had sensory time. I'd brought them Kinetic Sand, and they all played happily with it, making chit-chat with each other, while I managed to get some other work done.

Then Ruddy went back to class, and Anise and Montana both did some school work.
That alone is nothing short of a miracle! They tear up their work more often than they actually attempt to do it.

The rest of the day proceeded just as smoothly! Anise and Montana did their work, took their breaks, participated in their social skills group, and got all of their points for the day. They did not fight at all. (There have been days when we've had to put them in separate rooms and lock the door, to keep them from trying to kill each other. Literally!)

I find myself starting to think that we are actually becoming a class, instead of a group of strangers being held prisoner in the same small room. 

I've been piping calming music in through the speakers. Maybe that is helping! Or maybe God was smiling on me today! Either way, I'm actually halfway looking forward to tomorrow.